Linxia

Chapter 180, Flood

The sound of the rain continued all night long.

The next day.

As soon as I opened the door, I could feel the moist and fresh air blowing towards me. The orange tree in front of the door had lost many leaves in the wind and rain last night, but those that were still on the tree had changed from being dry and curled up in the past two days to becoming upright and plump, looking brand new after being washed by the rain.

As soon as the door was opened, Guaiguai jumped out of the house, squatted under the eaves, meowed, and stuck one of its little front paws out of the eaves, as if feeling the rain. It looked like it obviously wanted to go out and have fun, but was afraid that its fur would get wet by the rain.

Huahua didn't have that worry. He went out to run around happily, barking, and then came back. The tuft of hair on the top of his head was wet and hung together. He ran to Fang Lin and wanted to rub against him, but Fang Lin pushed him away by holding his head. He whimpered in grievance, and lay down side by side with Guaiguai, watching the water curtain pouring down from the roof.

Next door, Granny Qiu got up and greeted Fang Lin happily when she saw him: "Linzi, are you up? It's really cool after the rain. It was hot at night a few days ago, and my old man tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. But he slept so well last night, and he slept until dawn, and he hasn't woken up yet!"

Here, Grandma Man also came out and muttered, "It's raining now, so the weather isn't hot anymore. The factory was closed a few days ago, and it's cooler after the rain, so we can go back to work."

At Fang's house, Fang's mother and Tian Xuan also got up and started making breakfast.

Fang Lin gave some instructions and went out with an umbrella. It was raining, and there were frog sounds everywhere. He didn't know where they had been hiding during the hot weather the past two days.

As we walked along, we could see that the water in the drainage ditches in the alleys had risen sharply and was flowing. After leaving the alleys, some streets were blocked and the water on the road was over the ankles. When pedestrians passed by, they had to jump left and right to find dry places.

When they arrived at Xuan Mo Zhai and its two branches, Fang Lin reminded them to pay attention to waterproofing and moisture-proofing, and told them to eat the food stored in the store. Since there was no business due to the rain, they should just take a good rest.

When I returned home, breakfast was already ready: preserved egg and lean meat porridge, seasoned bean sprouts, and smashed cucumber, which was quite a feast.

Breakfast passed by listening to the sound of rain.

In the morning, Sister Guihua, Su Xiaoqing, Grandma Qiu, and Sha Xiaoyun came to sit as usual, and Fang's mother and Tian Xuan brought out fruits and snacks.

Today is not as hot as the previous few days, and there is no need to send ice. Although it was not hot in the Fang family in the past two days, it has naturally cooled down after the rain. The women seem to be happier today and talk excitedly, talking about Tian Xuan and Sha Xiaoyun's growing bellies, whether it is a boy or a girl, and their experience in raising children in the future.

The little girl Chen Ye is playing with tangram.

In order to kill time for his father, Fang Lin played chess with him.

"If it were in our village, the roof would sometimes leak during heavy rains, and we would have to worry about the water from the river rushing up... In the capital, we don't have to worry about these things, and life is getting better and better."

"Yes, Dad, Qiao's brother Xuzi and his friends came over and went to the dock to be the steward. How are they doing recently?"

"It's just the same work I did before. I won't be exposed to the sun or get tired... It's pretty good."

As we were talking, there was a sound of water splashing outside. Time on this rainy day seemed to stretch and slow down along with the hanging curtain of water.

……

For lunch, the Fang family had stir-fried pork with green beans and stewed eggs. Fang's mother said that Tian Xuan needed some nourishment as she had a big belly, so now almost every meal is pretty good.

After dinner, I felt a little sleepy in the summer afternoon, so I went back to the house to take a nap.

When the curtains were drawn, the light in the room suddenly became dim.

Fang Lin turned around and lay on the bed, holding Tian Xuan carefully and listening to her stomach. Tian Xuan seemed to feel a little itchy and giggled.

Suddenly, she said, "The child kicked me."

"Is it?"

The lines on Fang Lin's face softened, and he listened more carefully to her stomach. After a while, he saw Tian Xuan yawning and said, "Go to sleep! Go to sleep!"

But when it came time to sleep, Tian Xuan couldn't fall asleep again, so Fang Lin coaxed her like a child and told her stories softly.

Tian Xuan leaned over, sniffed the scent of Fang Lin, and looked at him for a while, then looked at him again and again. It seemed that when she saw Fang Lin, her heart felt extremely peaceful. She fell into a deep sleep without knowing how long it was.

Fang Lin looked at Tian Xuan sleeping sweetly in his arms, smiled, and also felt a little sleepy. With a full stomach and a fulfilled mind, he let his thoughts run wild. In this lazy state, listening to the sound of rain outside, he also fell asleep.

He didn't wake up until mid-afternoon. Tian Xuan seemed to have woken up earlier. When she saw Fang Lin open his eyes, she closed her eyes suddenly for some reason, but seemed unsure and blinked twice to peek.

She is now very pregnant and is about to become a mother, but she inadvertently shows the liveliness and cuteness of a young girl. Such a contrast makes Fang Lin couldn't help laughing.

When I came out, Su Xiaoqing and Sister Guihua had come over after their nap and were talking in a low voice with Fang's mother.

"Brother Fang!" Chen Ye called over crisply, holding a completed jigsaw puzzle.

"That's amazing!" Fang Lin rubbed the little girl's head and saw her squinting her eyes like a cat. He thought that maybe he would have such a lovely daughter in the future?
……

The rain made people relaxed. Su Xiaoqing, Sister Guihua, Sha Xiaoyun and Grandma Qiu came over from time to time, and Fang's mother and Tian Xuan didn't feel bored either.

Fang Lin plays chess and writes articles with his father.

Time passed so quickly that ten days went by in a flash.

During this ten-day period, the rain stopped at times, and it was cloudy for a while occasionally, but it soon started again. Sometimes it was a little lighter, but more often it was pouring heavily, as if it was making up for all the rain that had accumulated before.

The drainage ditch in Xixiang Hutong was repaired this year and is relatively good, but it was blocked once. It took a man in the alley to go out in the rain and clear it.

Now when you go out, you have to take off your shoes in many places and wade through water that is higher than your knees.

Fang Lin went to the store once more. The main store of Xuan Mo Zhai and the branch on Yandaixie Street were fine, but the branch on Guangfuxie Street was relatively low-lying, and water entered the store, and they had to use a basin to scoop out the water.

Many people in the city felt that something was wrong, and would take advantage of the occasional stops in the rain to buy food and stockpile some food, causing a small increase in food prices.

That day, Fang's mother talked about this matter: "There is no shortage of firewood, rice, oil, salt, and bacon, dried vegetables, etc. at home, which can last for a year or two."

In other words, there is a shortage of vegetables and fruits. However, if there really is a food crisis, it’s good enough to have something to eat. What else is there to be picky about?
"My family is the same. We fled here from the village. We were really afraid of starving, but we were not short of money, so we bought extra food and stored it at home." Su Xiaoqing also said.

Not to mention Sister Guihua, she was also well prepared. Fang Lin was not too worried after hearing this. Not to mention that his family had stored food, even if they didn't, they wouldn't be afraid of having no food to eat.

He has now moved from a fifth-rank Jinyiwei to a member of the powerful class in the city. As long as there is food in the city, even if 99% of the people are hungry, his family will not starve.

"I have to go and see the Ou family. Without Madam Ou, the Master is not good at many things in life." Fang Lin thought so and went out.

……

At the Ou family, Master Ou stood in front of the window, looking at the heavy rain outside, frowning. When he saw Fang Lin coming over, he asked him to sit down and sighed, "It's raining so hard. Looking at the situation, I'm afraid Huai'an will suffer another disaster this year."

"I was thinking about this, too. Our village suffered from flooding the year before last. I hope it will happen again this year. What a disaster!"

"Yes, it's been a disaster."

Master Ou paused for a moment and said, "It's not just Huai'an, the entire Jianghuai area is probably going to be flooded. If there is really a flood this year, our grain harvest in Jianghuai will also decrease, and I'm afraid we won't be able to support the northern prefectures."

"I heard that the north is suffering from drought again this year, and many families have begun to flee from the famine. The court was counting on us to allocate food, but now... Alas, I don't know how many people are going to starve to death."

"Master, these matters have been taken care of by His Majesty and the officials in the court. It will be useless for us to worry about them. I came here to ask if your family is short of food. If so, I can bring some over." Fang Lin stated his purpose.

"No need. We have prepared food at home. My husband, in the last period of time when he was still conscious, was worried about me and asked me to buy a lot of food to store." Master Ou said softly, took a deep breath, blinked twice, and lowered his head.

After returning from the Ou family, Fang Lin was still thinking about this matter: "I can't take care of things far away, but I can do something about Huai'an Prefecture City."

'I have considered this before. After Brother Dong passed the imperial examination and I was awarded the title of the fifth-rank Jinyiwei, although I had enough background to open a factory, the overall environment was not good and there were not enough workers. I had to find a suitable entry point. Now, this entry point seems to have come. If Huai'an really suffers a disaster this year and refugees flock to the city, the problem of insufficient labor will be solved.'

It can be said that Fang Lin’s opening of a factory after the disaster was not only beneficial to private individuals, but also relieved the pressure on the government.

——In normal times, the people are just the people, but if they become refugees, they become an unstable factor that can easily cause unrest.

"I don't know the scale of this flood, but judging by the situation, it is estimated to be more serious than the year before last. The reserve warehouse in the prefecture may not be enough. We may even have to raise funds from the big families in the city..."

'Speaking of the big families in the city, if we open a factory after this disaster, we will encounter the least resistance from them. There are five families in the city, Gu, Fan, Ma, Shao, and Duan. The Gu family is a real capitalist, but now it is in a state of contraction because of the strange field case; the Fan family, under my deception, plunged into the perfume business and did not care about opening a factory or overseas business; the Ma, Shao, and Duan families have a serious small-peasant mentality and value land. After this disaster, they are likely to merge land and will not think about expanding factories to hinder me.'

It can be said that this is really the best time, and the opportunity once missed will never come back.

Fang Lin made up his mind: "If you don't take what God gives you, you will suffer the consequences. I will start my journey to become a big capitalist by opening a factory this time!"

"To set up a factory, you will have to spend a lot of money. Fortunately, I made a lot of money by developing the second part of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and establishing distribution channels. Now I have tens of thousands of taels of silver saved. But I still need to prepare more. "

At this moment, he suddenly remembered that a few days ago, someone from the court came to ask about the novel.

"Is your Majesty urging me to submit my manuscript? No, the attitude of Emperor Hongtai last time meant that it's okay to be slow, but the quality must be guaranteed. I think it may be that someone below wants to please your Majesty and makes his own decision? But no matter whose intention it is, my manuscript cannot be delayed for too long."

'Forget it. I'll rush to finish the manuscripts for the third and fourth volumes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and send them to Your Majesty. Then I'll sell them together and quickly make some money to start a factory. By the way, I can promote the third and fourth volumes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms when they're on sale and use 10% of the profits from the books for disaster relief. This is both a good deed and a good way to spread my reputation.'

In this era, having a good reputation often means getting twice the result with half the effort. Not to mention the increased book sales brought by fame, just think about the fact that once a factory announces recruiting, there will surely be a rush of people coming.

Fang Lin thought about it, decided on this matter, immediately went back to the house, sat down and started to finish the manuscript. Amid the sound of the rain, the masterpiece "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that would be passed down through the ages took shape this summer.

……

In Huai'an City, the rain was intermittent, sometimes heavy and sometimes light. Many people took advantage of the rain to buy vegetables and store grain, and suffered greatly from the rising grain prices.

The counties below are already in dire straits.

……

Xiaohe Village.

Ever since the heavy rain began, everyone in Xiaohe Village has been on alert, with their hearts in their throats.

After all, they suffered a disaster the year before last and had to flee to the provincial capital. They learned from their mistakes. How could they not learn from them?
Under Qiao Cunzheng's notification, every household made preparations. They took food out of the boxes and put them in high places to prevent the flood from coming suddenly like last time, which flooded a lot of food and made it insufficient for the refugees during their escape. They also sent people to check the water level at regular intervals by the river, day and night.

It can be said that every millimeter of water level rise in recent days has made the villagers nervous. Fortunately, the rain has gradually subsided and the water level has begun to fall from its highest point, which means that Xiaohe Village will probably not be affected by the disaster this year and is likely to be safe.

The villagers were all happy and talked about it.

"This year's rain is heavier than the year before, but our village has not been flooded. This is such a great thing!"

"Isn't it? Let's give priority to reinforcing this section of the embankment, and I think nothing will happen."

"After all, this matter is still due to the help of the Fang family. It is because of the face of Fang's son that the county magistrate repaired our section first. Otherwise, who knows what would happen!"

……

The villagers talked excitedly and became even more grateful to the Fang Lin family. The reputation of the Fang family in the village further rose.

No wonder they are like this. If they have a choice, who would want to flee? The hustle and bustle of fleeing is something that older people often cannot bear.

Especially a few days later, when news of disasters in some villages came one after another, the joy and gratitude of the people of Xiaohe Village reached its peak.

……

Just when the villagers of Xiaohe Village were happy, the rain in Huai'an City gradually subsided and was about to stop. Before the people in the city could be happy, a series of bad news came one after another. The six counties under the jurisdiction of Huai'an, including Andong, Taoyuan and Qinghe, were not spared and all suffered from the disaster.

When the news came, the price of grain in the city soared instantly. People were still frantically scrambling for food, and people were in panic and chaos was evident.

……

(End of this chapter)